Thursday, November 15, 2012

2003 Transactions

I stumbled upon these two as I was looking for Cubs relic cards.

They come from the Topps 2003 Traded and Rookies set. Both of these players spent a short time with the Cubs, but had a big impact.

The Cubs signed the 35-year old Karros as first base insurance. Rookie Hee Seop Choi was given the position and Karros was there just in case. Well, Choi got hurt in June and was pretty lousy when he returned. Karros ended up platooning at first with a mid-season acquisition Randal Simon. After the season, Choi was sent to the Marlins for Derrek Lee and Karros was not re-signed. Karros did show a lot of class by taking out a full page ad in the Tribune,

thanking the fans for a wonderful season.

Kenny Lofton was one of several players the Cubs pilfered from the Pirates during the 2003 season. The Cubs were in desperate need of a center fielder when Corey Patterson went down with a season ending injury on July 6. Lofton (and Aramis Ramirez) was acquired two weeks later. The Cubs were 49-50 before the trade and 38-25 after Lofton's arrival. His speed at the top of the lineup was one of the reasons for the success.

He too was let go after the season. Corey Patterson was expected to fully recover and he was the Cubs golden boy. Unfortunately, he had a decent 2004, but went south quickly after that.

About Me

I am a life-long Cubs fan currently in exile in southern Michigan. I have been collecting baseball cards since the fateful Cubs year of 1969. I took a 15 year break from the hobby and returned in 2008.